The nucleic acid and proteins of epizootic haemorrhagic disease virus

Purified epizootic haemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV) was shown to contain 10 double-stranded RNA segments and a double-layered protein capsid with 4 major and 4 minor polypeptides. The virus differed from bluetongue virus (BTV), the orbivirus prototype, in that EHDV had an additional minor polypeptide component. This component, together with the major polypeptides P2 and P5, formed the outer capsid layer of the virus. The extra polypeptide apparently stabilizes this layer since, unlike BTV, EHDV was quite stable on CsC1 gradients at both pH 7,0 and 8,0. EHD virions were found to have a density of 1,36 g/mℓ, while particles without the outer capsid layer were isolated and had a density of 1,40 g/mℓ. Two non-capsid polypeptides, P5A and P6A, were identified in addition to the 8 capsid polypeptides. Polypeptide P5A was synthesized in excess of all the others. There was little homology between the nucleic acids of EHDV and BTV with only 5-10% cross-hybridization. No hybrid double-stranded RNA segments were identified. We found by cross-immune precipitation that the major core polypeptides of the 2 viruses (P7 and P3) have common antigenic determinants.This article has been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 300dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-Format

Monopole Percolation in pure gauge compact QED

The role of monopoles in quenched compact QED has been studied by measuring the cluster susceptibility and the order parameter $n_{max}/n_{tot}$ previously introduced by Hands and Wensley in the study of the percolation transition observed in non-compact QED. A correlation between these parameters and the energy (action) at the phase transition has been observed. We conclude that the order parameter $n_{max}/n_{tot}$ is a sensitive probe for studying the phase transition of pure gauge compact QED.Comment: LaTeX file + 4 PS figures, 12 pag., Pre-UAB-FT-308 ILL-(TH)-94-1

The design, construction and performance of the MICE scintillating fibre trackers

This is the Pre-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2011 ElsevierCharged-particle tracking in the international Muon Ionisation Cooling Experiment (MICE) will be performed using two solenoidal spectrometers, each instrumented with a tracking detector based on diameter scintillating fibres. The design and construction of the trackers is described along with the quality-assurance procedures, photon-detection system, readout electronics, reconstruction and simulation software and the data-acquisition system. Finally, the performance of the MICE tracker, determined using cosmic rays, is presented.This work was supported by the Science and Technology Facilities Council under grant numbers PP/E003214/1, PP/E000479/1, PP/E000509/1, PP/E000444/1, and through SLAs with STFC-supported laboratories. This work was also supportedby the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, which is operated by the Fermi Research Alliance, under contract No. DE-AC02-76CH03000 with the U.S. Department of Energy, and by the U.S. National Science Foundation under grants PHY-0301737,PHY-0521313, PHY-0758173 and PHY-0630052. The authors also acknowledge the support of the World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI Initiative), MEXT, Japan

Pion contamination in the MICE muon beam

The international Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) will perform a systematic investigation of ionization cooling with muon beams of momentum between 140 and 240\,MeV/c at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory ISIS facility. The measurement of ionization cooling in MICE relies on the selection of a pure sample of muons that traverse the experiment. To make this selection, the MICE Muon Beam is designed to deliver a beam of muons with less than $\sim$1\% contamination. To make the final muon selection, MICE employs a particle-identification (PID) system upstream and downstream of the cooling cell. The PID system includes time-of-flight hodoscopes, threshold-Cherenkov counters and calorimetry. The upper limit for the pion contamination measured in this paper is $f_\pi < 1.4\%$ at 90\% C.L., including systematic uncertainties. Therefore, the MICE Muon Beam is able to meet the stringent pion-contamination requirements of the study of ionization cooling.Department of Energy and National Science Foundation (U.S.A.), the Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (Italy), the Science and Technology Facilities Council (U.K.), the European Community under the European Commission Framework Programme 7 (AIDA project, grant agreement no. 262025, TIARA project, grant agreement no. 261905, and EuCARD), the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and the Swiss National Science Foundation, in the framework of the SCOPES programme

Community involvement in tuart health

Across the Swan Coastal Plain Eucalyptus gomphocephala (tuart) woodlands are in decline (Bulletin 1). This is of great concern to Natural Resource Management groups, researchers, local councils, state government agencies and private landholders